response of yield and yield components of corn to partial root zone drying

increasing the water use efficiency in crop production is an important issue today. an experiment was conducted in 2009 in order to evaluate the corn reaction to partial root zone drying at fars province. treatments consisted of four irrigation levels (control, alternative furrow irrigation during whole season, alternative furrow irrigation until flowering then full irrigation and full irrigation until flowering then alternative furrow irrigation after flowering) and three potassium levels (0, 100 and 200 kg ha-1 potassium sulfate).  the treatments were arranged as split plots (irrigation regimes as main plots and k fertilizer levels as sub plots) and the data was analyzed based on a randomized complete blocks design with three replications. the results showed that irrigation had significant effects on grain yield, water consumption, grain weight and grain number per ear. the highest grain yield obtained in control irrigation but it was not significantly different from alternative furrow irrigation until flowering. the lowest water consumption was observed in alternative furrow irrigation until flowering treatment. potassium treatments had significant effect only on grain yield. in conclusion the results suggested that with alternative furrow irrigation water use reduced and water use efficiency increased compared to conventional methods.